IMAGE OF THE WEEK
XC IS A TEAM SPORT - Minutes before their epic performance at the 40th Annual Woodbridge Cross Country Classic the Newbury varsity team huddles for final instructions. The team went on to run the fastest high school individual and team time ever.
TOP ATHLETES OF SEPTEMBER
Plenty of great performances in September as the ‘Invitational Season’ kicked off in full force. Cool Breeze and Woodbridge produced some stellar times as usual and Bell-Jeff gave us a peak at what the post-season will look like. It wasn’t easy to pick our favorites but these are the athletes that stood out in September.
Isabel Castagnola
Granada Hills
It was a busy September for Isabel Castagnola. In 4 meets starting with Cool Breeze on 9/3 and culminating with the Central Park Invite on 10/2 she’s continued to improve her time and lead the best team in City. Isabel’s 18:27.8 at Woodbridge ranked her 2nd in City at the time behind her teammate Sofia Abrego.
Fransisco Rodriguez &
David Martinez
Franklin
The dynamic duo from division 3 Franklin showed that their ‘21 track season wasn’t a fluke with two outstanding performances in September. David (478), a senior, ran a 15:38.6 at Woodbridge to post the fastest 3-mile performance in City at the time. And one week later Francisco (480), a junior, hammered the Bell-Jeff Varsity-Red race winning in 15:46.7 on the 2.91-mile course.
Other top performances in September included Palisade’s stand-out sophomore Max Fields’ 2nd place at Woodbridge (15:27.7 - LA City top time); Canoga Park’s Dulce Gonzales’ strong runs at Bell-Jeff (19:41.23) and Santa Clarita (19:16.5), and at Pierce where she recorded the 2nd best time this year (20:15.0); Cleveland’s James Lopez who has led the West Valley League in most races; Keely Miyamoto of Eagle Rock who has been the front-runner for the #1 ranked Eagles; and Reseda's sophomore Jude Sandridge who currently has the top time on Pierce (16:28.0) in his first season running.
RISING STARS
Joseph Vargas
Cleveland - 10th Grade
In his first year of XC Joseph Vargas has risen from the ranks of noteworthy to exceptional. The season started with two respectable performances at Pierce and quickly ramped up, culminating in a top-in-City grade performance at Woodbridge (16:23.1) as well as the 4th fastest underclassman time at the Bell-Jeff invite (16:44.8).
Brynn Bogue
Bravo Medical - 9th grade
After 2 races at Elysian Park the Bravo Medical Magnate freshman has emerged as the 2nd fastest girl in City this year with a seriously legitimate time of 18:25.3 - at Elysian Park! This past week-end at the Bell-Garden Invite she confirmed her rank as one of the top freshman in City with a 2nd place finish in the Freshman race.
THE WEEK IN PICTURES
Jude Sandridge (Reseda) and William Rojas (Monroe) lead the varsity race up Chalk Hill at Pierce College in league competition on Oct. 20th. A sophomore transfer from North Carolina, Jude has clocked the fastest time at Pierce this year (16:26) and William has the 2nd fastest (16:52).
Four of the top runners in City compete in league competition at Pierce College on Oct. 21st. (l-r) Dulce Gonzalez (Canoga Park), Montano Yanilette (Reseda), Angelina Valladares (Canoga Park) and Leyla Huerta (Monroe)
The Granada Varsity team poses after their fine performance at Clovis. Running without their top 2 runners the team still earned a 10th place finish in the highly competitive X-Large Varsity race. (l-r) Naima Salazar, Reece Trice, Lilianna Moreira, Jocelyn Pacheco, Meztli Velazquez, Zaida Velazquez, Sofia Abrego
Angelica Milar (102) and Brynn Bogue (87) of Bravo Medical had superb performances at the Bell Garden invite. Both finished under 20 minutes with Angelica placing 3rd in the Senior race and Bryn 2nd in the Freshman race.
Mollie Wittenberg (315) and Ava Baak (294) placed 1st and 2nd for the Palisades girls in the Junior race at the Bell Gardens Invite helping them win the team race by 2 points over Arroyo. (l-r) Caily Galvez, Mollie Wittenberg, Layla Adeli, Julia Musumeci, Ava Baak
Max Fields (748) and Jose Sevilla (763) lead the Palisades boys team to a 2nd place finish in the Senior race at the Bell Gardens Invitational. (l-r) Front: Max Fields, Stewart Tierney, Sean Maldonado. Back: Alec Schmitt, David Tobin, Josh Kovacs, Noah Wexler, Jeremy Santiago, Tyson Brazil, Jose Sevilla
David Martinez of Franklin continues to excel placing 15th at Bell Gardens in 16:01.4.
A Champion! Freshman Kelia Naranjo-Champion placed 4th in the Freshman race at Bell Gardens Invite in her 1st race of the the year. Her sister Sophia placed 5th in the Sophomore race.
Two of the top finishers in the Senior race at Bell Gardens Marshall's Finlay Robertson (210) and David Tobin (765). Both broke 16 minutes and placed 13th and 14th respectively.
Bravo Medical prepares for the start of the Junior race at the Bell Gardens Invite.
The Venice girls team relaxes between races at the Bell Gardens invitational.
Garfield's Mia Ryes just after the 1-mile mark at the Bell Gardens Invitational on Oct. 16th.
Granada's boys team celebrating some outstanding performances at the the Central Park Invite in Huntington Beach on Oct 2nd. (l-r) Sean Taylor, Alec Flores, Michael Ward, Alexander Mendoza, Reece Robles (back), Ryan Dudley (front), Juan Alcala, Finley Hanson, Pablo Abrego
Bravo's freshman team warms-up at the Bell Gardens Invite. Ramirez took 4th place in the race and is the top ranked freshman in LA City. (l-r) Alan Gonzalez (512), Christopher Ramirez (524), Robert Zarate (533), Christian Tecum (529). Ramirez took
Garfield junior Mia Reyes and coach Anthony Moran at the starting line of the Bell Gardens invite. Mia placed 19th in the Junior race in 22.12.6.
Taft's varsity team packs it in at the final West Valley Cluster meet on Oct. 14th. (l-r) Ryan Tjenalooi, Jaume Folz, Diego terrier, Adrian Garcia-Aguilar, Dael Farkash, Emmanuel Palacios. Photo credit: Phil Missig
Taft's varsity team closes in on the finish at the West Valley Cluster Meet on Oct. 14th at Pierce College. (l-r) Ashley Williams (5204), Taaly Shreier, Kayla Tjenalooi (5203), and Lia Medovoi (5201). Photo Credit: Phil Missig
Hamilton freshman Jasmine Campos (182) and Maria Cruz Santiago (184) prepare to compete in the Freshman race at the Bell Gardens invitational.
ECR's Isaac Enriquez (531), Isaiah Stone (542), Esvin Barrientos (525), and Giancarlo Diaz (back) warm-up for the large school JV race at the Santa Clarita Invitational.
The Hamilton girl's team at the starting line of the Santa Clarita Invitational. Luciana Valencia (back left), Elizabeth Servin (751) and Maria Cruz Santiago (739) were the top scorers for the Yankees.
ECR's Mateo Glass, one of the top sophomores in LA City, comes out of the hills on the 1st loop on the Central Park course at the Santa Clarita Invitational.
Freshman Noah Gullo-Ingram of Taft on the last stretch before the finish chute at the Santa Clarita Invitational on Oct. 9th.
Eagle Rock's top runner Keely Miyamoto didn't let an ankle injury stop her. The #1 ranked runner in City division 2 finished 9th at Bell-Jeff.
Canoga teammates Angelina Lopez (220), Dulce Gonzalez (219) and Angelina Valladares (226) pose after their team's 7th place team finish.
Marshall's Finlay Robertson and Panos Papadeas relax after medaling in the Bell-Jeff Invitational.
With about 700 meters to go El Camino Real's Austen Ledgerwood leads the varsity race at the West Valley Cluster meet on Sept. 2nd.
AROUND THE LEAGUE
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Renewal
Jeff Atkinson takes the reigns of a San Pedro XC program that looks to be rebuilding after their ‘19 City championship. Coach Atkinson has a prodigious running career that includes competing in the ‘88 S. Korean Olympics and coaching several powerhouse southern section distance programs.
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Resurgence
The Taft XC team sits for a team photo in front of their new tent at Pierce College after the West Valley Cluster meet. Taft comes into the ‘21 season with high expectations. New Head Coach Mario Castillo and his runners are up to the challenge and showing a new attitude.
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Resolve
Coaches Colson Phillip and Camille King jumped through hoops to provide a ‘20 XC season for the ECR team. The Royals ran 5 dual meets against Agoura, Calabasas, Granada Hills, Birmingham and Chatsworth; something few City schools accomplished.
(l-r) Max Liberman, Dylan McDermott, Aidan Emery, Leta Squier, Mateo Glass, Coach Colson and Camille.
‘The Drive’
Is dedicated to LA City’s high school distance running community
The goal is to evangelize exceptional teams and athletes with high quality, curated content and editorial perspectives in an online periodic publication.
Each volume will include a ‘Special’ section, as well as Athletes of the Week/Month, ‘The Week in Pictures’ including a ‘Picture of the Week’, ‘The Numbers’, and ‘Heard on the Trail’.
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